The player ran toward the huddle. He only got a few steps from the sideline when the coach yelled at him.

“Hey,” the coach exclaimed. “Hey!”

The player stopped and turned to the coach.

The coach said, “Don’t fumble.”

You might guess what happened next. The player took the handoff. And fumbled. A player on the opposing team scooped up the ball and returned it all the way to the other end of the field to score the winning touchdown.

___

I witnessed this event firsthand. It was my high school football team. We were in the playoffs, ranked #1, and playing the #2 team. We lost by a touchdown, after we fumbled the ball on our opponent’s 7-yard line. Our season ended in a flash.

___

___

I can just imagine the emotion of the moment, George. You went from anticipation of victory to certain defeat, all in a matter of seconds.franchise in Newton for the last 21 years.

___

There’s an important lesson for all of us in this story:
You can predict your future.

You’re always right

Way back in 1902, James Allen wrote As a Man Thinketh. He begins his wonderful book with this poem:

Mind is the Master power that moulds and makes,
And Man is Mind, and evermore he takes
The tool of Thought, and, shaping what he wills,
Brings forth a thousand joys, a thousand ills: —
He thinks in secret, and it comes to pass:
Environment is but his looking-glass.

Your thoughts predict your future.

Are you worried about fumbling? You’ll fumble.
Do you think you will never get unstuck? You won’t.
Do you think that your future will be just like your present? It will be.
Do you think that you won’t ever reach BIGG success? You’re right.

It’s your choice

Sounds cruel, doesn’t it? It’s not meant to be. But you want us to be real, right?

As long as you think nothing good will happen, nothing good will happen. Your brain will just keep focusing on those things that are making you worry.

Did you catch that? Your brain will focus on the negatives in your life. Even beyond that, it will work its very best to prove to right.

It will find the underlying rationale you need to keep you where you are.
You’re not smart enough, educated enough, attractive enough, young enough, old enough. There’s some deficiency.

That’s the reason you don’t get any breaks. Other people get them. But not you. It’s not fair. But that’s life.

This is your brain working against you. Because you’re not thinking about the right things.

Your brain will be your adversary or your ally. It’s your choice.

So turn your thinking on its head. Think about BIGG success. Then take action and you’ll become a BIGG success.

Sure is funny how what you tell someone (or even yourself) has a way of coming to pass. That’s why I learned years ago when I do NaNoWriMo (a novel writing challenge) to tell them that I’ll “See you at the finish line!” This makes 2 assumptions. The obvious one is that the other person will reach the finish line. But it also assumes that I will be there too. It’s a great phrase I use to motivate myself, and others, to reach the 50K goal.